Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Dutch Give in on Carbon Storage

The Dutch government has abandoned plans for carbon storage (CS) in the northern Netherlands, in response to growing local opposition. Plans called for storing CO2 in empty natural gas chambers in three northern provinces, but protests forced cancellation of the project. The Netherlands has not given up on CS entirely, however, as the government now proposes storing carbon in offshore gas chambers. This sort of NIMBYism is likely to drive other CS projects offshore as well, in the Netherlands and beyond.